The present invention relates in general to headset noise reducing and more particularly concerns novel apparatus and techniques for actively and/or passively reducing the noise perceived by the user of a headset.
For background reference is made to U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,305,387, 5,208,868, 5,181,252, 4,989,271, 4,922,542, 4,644,581 and 4,455,675. Reference is also made to the Bose active noise-reducing headsets that are or were commercially available from Bose Corporation that are incorporated by reference herein.
It is an important object of the invention to provide improved noise-reducing for headsets.
According to the invention, there is an earcup closed at the back away from the ear of a user and open at the front adjacent to the ear of the user. There is a driver inside the earcup. The earcup has a cushion that is seated in the front opening and formed with an ear opening for accommodating the ear of the user and an annular ridge surrounding the ear opening formed with a plurality of openings with adjacent openings typically spaced from each other by of the order of the width of an opening measured along the circumference of the ear opening with each opening having a radial width generally perpendicular to the circumference of the ear opening slightly less than the radial width of the annular ridge. For active noise reduction, there is a microphone adjacent to the driver coupled to the driver by electronic circuitry that furnishes active noise reduction and an acoustical load around the microphone and driver. The acoustic load may comprise a resistive mesh screen and/or air in a tube. Other features, objects and advantages will become apparent from the following detailed description when read in connection with the accompanying drawings in which: